Police: Maryland trio pilfered oral hygiene kits from Upper Chi CVS

UPPER CHICHESTER — A township police officer nabbed three Maryland men who allegedly stole $400 in merchandise from the CVS Friday to fund their heroin habit.

Shortly before 2 p.m. Friday, police were dispatched to the CVS in the 3600 block of Chichester Avenue for a theft that had just occurred. A store employee told police that two men had walked out of the store without paying for a full basket of merchandise.

Delaware County Communications broadcast a description of the suspects — white males, one wearing a plaid, long-sleeve shirt and Eagles hat and jeans, the other wearing a long-sleeve shirt under a blue T-shirt with tan cargo shorts and sneakers. Police were notified that the suspects fled in a white work van with Delaware tags driven by a white male. The van was last seen heading south toward Interstate 95.

Officer Jack Keith was on Chichester Avenue just prior to the I-95 onramp when he spotted the white van. Keith pulled over to the side of the road. When the van passed by, Keith was able to identify the tag number as the suspect’s vehicle, police said.

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Keith followed the van onto I-95, activating his patrol car’s lights and siren and pulling the van to the side of the roadway. He approached the van and spoke with the driver, identified as Herbert Simpers III, 32, of Port Deposit, Md. Two passengers inside of the van were identified as Joshua Haller, 24, and John Poore, 32, both of Elkton, Md.

Poore, who matched one of the suspect’s descriptions, allegedly admitted to taking three electric toothbrush kits from the CVS without paying for them. All three were ordered out of the van.

During a search of the van, police recovered a red CVS shopping basket, two Oral B Triumph 4000 hygiene kits and one Sonicare Healthy hygiene kit with a net worth of $409. Also recovered were 57 hypodermic needles, 15 bags of suspected heroine stamped “BLOCK KING,” 10 glassine baggies of used heroine and two spoons containing suspected heroine residue, police said. Simpers was also allegedly driving the van without a license.

The three men were placed under arrest and transported to police headquarters for processing.

The suspected heroin was packaged and sent to the Pennsylvania State Police Lab for further analysis.

Magisterial District Judge Spencer Seaton arraigned the three suspects on charges of receiving stolen property, possession of a controlled substance, retail theft, and related offenses.

Poore and Simpers have lengthy criminal histories in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. All three suspects are being held in Delaware County prison in lieu of $30,000 cash bail.